Middle-skill jobs on the rise in the Inland Empire
When the real estate market crash wiped out her job at a tile company, Jessica Schroeder knew it was time to go back to school.
U.S. Reporting
9 posts
Writing about American life in local communities for The Oregonian in Portland, Oregon, and The Desert Sun in Palm Springs, California. Browse articles here or view in a list.
Iconic Modernist homes in Palm Springs in disrepair
The Elrod House perched high above Palm Springs was once the star of a James Bond movie in which Sean Connery and two femme fatales tumbled from the living room-turned-lair…
Part Three: Desert agencies find some affordable housing solutions
The hot afternoon sun beat down on a row of half-built houses. Near the center of the street, in dusty Lot #38, Esteban Gutierrez climbed a ladder and drilled screws…
Part Two: Low inventory prices out many desert homebuyers
Alina and Pedro De Anda are outgrowing their one-room casita in a corner of a quiet gated community in La Quinta. With an energetic 2-year-old son and another child on…
Part One: Rising desert rents pinch wallets, force tough choices
Some months, Harriet Marks-Nelson and Madge Sutter can hardly afford to pay rent on their cozy park model overlooking the desert wilderness. In a bad month, they are forced to…
The Wild Bunch friends and Alzheimer’s Cafe in Beaverton overcome the stigma of disease
They used to call themselves I Forget, they joked. Until a few forgot the name, and they quickly scrapped it for the Wild Bunch.
John Wayne Gacy: Missing man found in Beaverton rebuilt his life, while family thought he was a victim of a serial killer
More than 30 years ago, Theodore Szal abandoned his car at a Chicago airport and didn’t look back. “I threw my keys away down the sewer grate so I couldn’t…
After a 5-year immigration fight, Luis Diaz reunites with his wife
As the youngest of three and the only United States citizen in her family, Jenny Diaz grew up watching her family split apart.
For Steve Dinwiddie, real-life guardian angels and providence saved him during Bridge Pedal crash
On the final stretch of August’s Providence Bridge Pedal bike ride, a hair before the dogleg turn to the finish line, a cyclist collapsed. A frightened 6-year-old boy untangled himself…